Aircraft flight indicating system



Aug. 30, 1949. E. M. DELORAINE ETAL 2,480,123

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AIRCRAFT FLIGHT INDICATING SYSTEM Original Filed Apri129. 1944 15 Sheets-Sheet 8 z/aoa 881? 15 n/fsr ffM//VAL INVEN EDMOND M. pam/NE Pnl/4 R. Hanns BY ATER/WEI Aug. 30, 1949. E. M. DELORAINE Erm. 2,480,123

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AIRCRAFT FLIGHT INDICATING SYSTEM original Filed April 29, 1944 15 sheets-sheet 1o n INVENTORS aMo/vo M. nimm/NE R41/L A. HDA/1.5 BY

ZASOZS ug. 30, i949. E. M. DELORAINE ETAL AIRCRAFT FLIGHT INDICATING SYSTEM original Filed April 29, 1944 15 Sheets-sheet 11 IN VEN TORS E DMO/VD M. DEL ORHINE Ara/v E. M. DELORAINE ETAL 2,480,123

AIRCRAFT FLIGHT INDICATING SYSTEM Original Filed April 29, 1944 l5 Sheets-Sheet 12 IN VEN TORS EMO/VD DELOPH//VE PH R- 40g/75 Aug. 30, 1949. E. M. DELORAINE ETAL 2,480,123

AIRCRAFT FLIGHT INDICATING SYSTEM Aug. 30, 1949. E. M. DELORAINE Erm. 2,480,123

AIRCRAFT FLIGHT INDICATING SYSTEM Original Filed April 29, 1944 15 Sheets-Sheet 14 A T TOHNE Y Patented Aug. 30, 1,4949

orFicE rAIRCRAFT FLIGHT mnIcA'rING SYSTEM Edmond M. Deloraine, Paris, France, and Paul E. Adams, Cranford, N. J., assig'nors to Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Original application April 29, 1944, Serial No. 533,322. Divided and this application Decem ber 15, 1945, Serial No. .635,339

3 Claims.

This invention relates to airplane guiding and traic control systems and pertains more particularly to radio systems for guiding airplanes along established routes and in approaching, landing and taking oi from airiields. This being a division of our copending application for Traiiic control systems, Ser. No. 533,322, filed April 29, 1944.

One of the objects of our invention is to provide a system of aids to navigation and traiiic control for use in extended operation of aircraft so as to permit regular operation by a standardized procedure under all weather conditions. Certain other objects of the invention involved in this system include the provision of methods andrmeans to meet the following re-l quirements:

a. The use of a minimum amount of radio equipment on the airplane.

b. The use of a minimum number of frequency channels.

c. Simplicity of operation and indication.

d. An operating precedure remaining substantially the same in all weather conditions.

e. The use of speech communication to give basic instructions from the ground to the airplane, and the provision of instruments on the airplane suitable for carrying out these instructions.

f. The provision of information on the ground sufiicient to supervise all planes movements, to check that they are correct or to issue supplementary instructions.

g. The possibility of gradual introduction of parts of the system.

The growth of military or civil aviation as a transportation service has been marked so far by a number of progressive steps in the solution ofa number of individual problems as the full importance of each became apparent.

While step-by-step progress in the minimization of natural and artificial limitations had the advantage of presenting ,the problems successively, it resulted in a decided disadvantage in that these individual solutions of problems have resulted in the development of equipments that are largely unrelated and independent, each requiring its own frequency and antenna and in total adding considerably to the airplane load and drag thus involving a cost and maintenance problem of some importance.

In order to obviate many of the diiliculties of prior systems and to simplify the apparatus required on the airplane, while at the same time olering other advantages, a further object of our invention is to provide a universal system" involving the following principles:

a` Several guiding and other functions are combined with a corresponding saving in equipment and frequencies.

b. Several functions are carried out successively in time in order to share the time among a number of successive functions with a corresponding saving in equipment and frequencies.

The general problems of air navigation can be divided into three main groups as follows:

1. Approaching, landing and taking-off on and from a given airiield or the Airport problem.

` 2. Flying along established air routes over continents or the Airway problem.

3. Flying without following established air routes, either over continents or over oceans or the General Navigation problem.

The present invention relates mainly to the iirst and second cases.

As the problems increase rapidly in diiculty and complexity as the number of airplanes involved increases, it will be assumed in the description that follows that large numbers of planes are involved, some simplication being obviously possible for smaller densities of air traihic.

1'Ihe landing and taking off on and from a given aireld involves the problem of controlling airplane movement near the aireld in a manner suitable for the landing and taking off of a number of airplanes simultaneously on separate runways, and to repeat this process at short intervals; the interference of poor weather being kept to a minimum. 'The system can be adapted to all types of airports. For high density trafllc the tangential type of airport layout is mostsuitable and accordingly this type of airport has been taken as an example for illustration of our invention. On the other hand, the system is equally applicable to a functional three runway airport and reference has been made to an airport of that type, likewise to illustrate the exibility of the system.

In accordance with the present invention, air- -port tramo control of planes prior to landing ls effected by giving the airplanes such information that they can follow circular paths centered on the airport. The radio ranges which define the airways leading to the airport are connected with the circles by tangential paths or branches which are used for arrival and departure of the airplanes. The circles are characterized by specic radii and altitudes and any number of such circles may readily be provided. Ordinarily only 3 one circle for a given altitude will be required but more than one circle could be provided if desired. Means is provided for advising the airplanes following these circles of their angular position with respect to the center or what is equivalent, their position along the circular path in which they are supposed to be flying.

The information required on the. ground at the irport traiilc control station is essentially the following:

a. Knowledge of the position, altitude and identication of all planes following the air route determined by the radio ranges.

b. Knowledge of the position, altitude and identication of al1 planes following the circular paths around the airport (before entering a runwaylocalizer beam for landing or after leaving a takecl runway).

c. Ability to check all movements of planes.

For safe guidance and control of aircraft along airwaysjthe following radio information and facilities are required by each airplane:

a. An indication of left-right location i. e., whether right or left of the airway (generally known as the radio range facility).

b. An indication of left-right attitude i. e., whether headed left or right of the next station ahead on the airway (generally known as the homing facility) c. A knowledge of altitude above ground (generally known as the terrain clearance facility).

d. A knowledge of position along the airway (hereaftencalled the self-distance facility).

e. A knowledge nearby aircraft (generally known as the anti-collision facility).

f. One or more channels for short range twoway telephone communication with airplanes nearby.

g. A larger number of channels for longer range two-way telephone communication with the distant airbases from any point on the airway.

The airwaysv control center such as a terminal airport requires the following information facilities:

g'. A suitable number of channels for two-way telephone communication with all planes along the route for giving traffic vcontrol instructions and weather information. (This is the same as the above listed service g, considered from the opposite viewpoint) h. A knowledge of the identities, altitudes and positions of all planes along the airway.

i. A number of telephone, telegraph and facsimile circuits between airports for exchanging traffic information, weather maps and all other messages as required.

The number of radio frequency bands needed for providing even the present 200 commercial civilian airlines with present existing facilities would be substantially greater than the number of bands now allocated for all civilian aeronautical uses; and with increasing numbers of aircraft as expected the shortage of bands will become rapidly more acute. The difficulty of obtaining new allocations oi frequencies, moreover, can be expected to be extremely great if the bands requested lie in the LF, MF or HF regions hereafter referred to as the longer range wavelengths, such difficulty being substantially less if the bands requested lie in the VHF, UHF orSHF regions hereafter referred to as the optical range" wavelengths. It is, therefore, necessary at the outset to consider how many of the desired facilities can be satisfactorily taken care of by optical range radiations and how many really require the longer range wavelengths.

It is at once apparent that the terrain clearance, self-distance and anti-collision facilities above listed as c. d and e would normally be performed with the optical range wavelengths. It is also fairly clear that the plane-to-plane telephone communication above listed as f could be taken care of by optical range radiations. In addition the radio range and homing facilities above listed as a and b can be performed with optical range wavelengths if one is willing to increase the number of range stations by a factor of about two to one.

The equipments required on the ground are approximately as follows:

l. A number of radio range transmitters suitably spaced to maintain optical line of sight with any airplane flying along the airway.

2. A number of responders or similar equipments for giving self-distance indications to every plane flying along the airway.

3. A number of optical frequency two-way radio-telephone ground stations suitably spaced to maintain optical line of sight with any airplane flying along any of the airways.

4. A sumcient number of communication channels to interconnect all the radio-telephone stations mentioned in 3 above, with the ight control centers.

5. A number of radar equipments spaced along the airway at suitable intervals to maintain a1- most optical line of sight with any airplane flying along the airway.

6. A suilicient number of communication channels to interconnect the radar equipments mentioned in 5 above. with the night control center.

7. A number of base-to-base telephone, telegraph and facsimile circuits between the arbases at the ends of the airway.

In the system of the present proposal, it is further contemplated that the combination stations a which all the required communication and navigation facilities are to be concentrated should be spaced somewhat closer than in the past (which permits the use of smaller power not only at these stations but also in the airplane transmitters) and should each be provided with a tower of moderate height. By such arrangement, it is possible to provide an optical line of sight between each tower and the next one; and the proposed system takes advantage of this fact to provide the required group of communication channels between air ports by means of a series of multi-channel UHF or SHF radio links between successive towers. A Wide-band repeater equipment is provided in each tower, so that the successive radio links are joined together into a chain which forms an artery of communication, extending between airports and capable of carrying a number of communication channels.

The relay stations along the airway must be at such distances apart that there is an optical path between the tops of the successive towers installed at these stations. In order to limit the towers to less than feet, the spacing will be 20 miles approximately in fiat country and usually larger in regions of irregular level.

Each tower carries four antennas for radiating and receiving narrow beamed micro-wave links in both directions and also a two-way UHF broad band repeater to join these links into a continuous chain. Such chain handles a multichannel communication system between the distant airbases. Such communication system carries all the base-to-base tralcincludlnz facsimile transmission service.

This multi-channel system may, in addition, have "outbranching channel" equipment for branching a few communication channels out.

from the artery at each tower or relay station and also "inbranching channel equipment.

For example, a chain of towers extends east and west between two airbases. The western rairbase may be referred to as the master base which primarily controls the facilities. Three channels from the eastbound artery from the master base may be branched out at each tower and ve channels may be branched in from each tower into the westbound artery for reception at the master base. 0f these three outbranching channels, two will be the same channels at all towers, while four of the nve inbranching channels will likewise be the same channels at all towers, these being used to handle a quasi-radar service and synchronize the transmissions of the radio range facilities as more fully explained hereinafter.

The remaining channel which is branched out at each tower as well as the remaining channel which is branched into the artery at each tower may be connected respectively to speech modulate a fixed-tuned low power VHF radio-telephone transmitter and to receive speech from a fixedtuned VHF' radio-telephone receiver for communication with airplanes near such tower. The two channels which are thus branched in and out at any Ygiven tower for two-way plane-to-base telephony will be different channels from those similarly used at the adjacent towers, in order that a number of different pairs of channels will be available along the airway for simultaneous speech between the western base and a number of different airplanes. The channels used for such plane-to-base telephony may be repeated every few towers, however, so as to require only six to twelve eastbound and six to twelve westbound channels even` for a long air route having twenty to thirty towers. The VHF radio frequencies used to carry the communications between the towers and the airplanes may also be repeated every few towers so that the airplanes lll-12Fl radio-telephone equipments need only be capable of selecting five or six dierent pairs of frequencies while yet permitting six to twelve simultaneous conversations depending on the number of channels. Many diiferent allocations of channels and frequencies may be made in accordance with operating requirements, one or two typical arrangements being given by way of example in the more detailed description which follows.

As many channels as required can thus be provided for plane-to-ground use over long distances without requiring any frequencies other than five or six VHF speech bands used ln the airplane radio-telephone equipment and the two wide bands used for the chain of tower-to-tower links.

It is especially to be noted that long range planeto-base telephone is thereby accomplished without the use of a single one of the scarce long range wavelengths below 30 mc.

On'e channel of the airplane VHF equipment can be reserved for direct communication with airplanes nearby. If communication is desired between planes too far apart for direct interworking, such communication can be carried on through the chain of towers in the same manner as a plane-to-base communication.

Heretofore desired information, whether required directly at the airport or for relaying along ters and receivers.

be, could be obtained or given only by a combination of known methods involving a number of different frequencies and several independent or only semi-correlated radio antennae.' transmit- In the system of the present invention anessential feature is the giving of all required services and information witha minimum number of frequencies and a minimum amount of `equipment and antennae on the air- Plane.

In accordance with. our invention, the desired advantage of reduction in the number, weight and complexity of equipments and antennae and the reduction in the number of frequencies required is brought about by means of pulse modulation utilizing pulses of various types and characteristics. In order to combine the advantages of pulse operation with the benets of conventional continuous wave (c. w.) operation some of the signals may be short pulse modulated carriers of 1/2 microsecond duration, more or less, which would be handled in accordance with pulse technique, while certain other signals could be much longer, and, in fact, may actually comprise brief signal trains of carrier Waves modulated with tone modulations which may be separated by the conventional heterodyning and filtering techniques used for c. W. transmission.

While the use of short duration pulses results in a wider frequency band than ordinary c. w. transmission, if the number of channels required is taken into consideration, as well as the selectivity and frequency stability attainable in practice, the total frequency band required with the new system of our invention is much less than would result from the use of c. W. methods.

Since the control of transmission is eected from the ground at the airport, it is possible' to synchronize the various transmissions in suoli a way that the pulses and short trains of signals corresponding to the various services will be sent in sequence, and to leave in between pulses and signal trains enough time interval to take care of the effects of the dierent locations of equipments, and the diierent locations of incoming 4 and outgoing airplanes with respect to the same.

A-ll of the pulses and signalling trains which are radiated from the various transmitters on the ground may be, in accordance with our invention, received by one antenna and one broad band receiver equipped with one or two antennas on each plane. The various types of signals used for vdifferent services are separated by pulse separation techniques and by tone separation techniques, such separation being performed after the signals have been received and detected in the common receiver to yield the pulses or trains of tones.

Some transmission must take place from the airplane, for example, to determine the distance of the plane from the ground or from a repeater.

In this case, it is not possible readily to synchronize the pulses sent by one plane with respect to the pulses sent by other planes. In the following description an explanation is given of how three sets of pulses may be sent from each airplane, one of these sets uses pulses of, for example, 1/2 microsecond duration transmitted at sufficiently long intervals so that their transmission times occupy only la of one per cent of a given time interval. The other two sets of pulses transmitted from the Planes are transmitted at the airways or on the aircraft. as the case may terval, thus the percentage'of pulses which overlap each other is small enough to avoid difficulties.

III-the case of certain services, e. g. determination in an airplane of its own distance from the ground or from a repeater, it is necessary to distinguish between the reflected or repeated pulses originated by the given airplane and other similar reflected or repeated pulses originated by other airplanes. By using widely spaced pulses and permitting their repetition rates to vary in random manner within certain limits, it is readily possible to recognize the desired received pulses by the fact that their timing corresponds exactly to the timing of the pulses previously transmitted by the given plane.

From the foregoing introductory description and the following detailed description, it will be clear that our invention shows how to handle, at a given airport on a time basis and on one single ground frequency, the following services:

1. A number of Radio ranges in the same area converging toward the same airport.

2. A number of localizers simutaneously in use at the same airport.

3. A corresponding number of Glide paths simultaneously in use at the same airport.

4. A high speed rotary beacon radiating special azimuth signals successively in different directions so as to enable any airplane to determine its azimuth in respect to the center of the airport.

5. Range transmitters or beacons spaced at desired intervals along the airways.

6. A forward scanning radio compass on the plane receiving the signals from any selected one of the localizer or range transmitters on the ground.

Assume, for example, with regard to items 1, 2 and 3 above, that there are four ranges, three localizers and three glide paths in use at once around one airport. Each of these determines an equi-signal path by means of two tone modulated carrier waves substantially as in the existing types of equipment. The two modulation "tones used for any one of the equipments will be of the order of hundreds of kilocycles, however, instead of ninety and one hundred and fifty cycles (so as to reduce the weight of the receiver filter) and will be different from the tones used in the other equipments. Thus, for ten equipments simultaneously in use twenty different modulating "tones" would be used. The radiations, moreover, are intermittent and are timed so as not to overlap, thus avoiding interference,

With regard to item 4 above, the beacon is generally similar to known types of omnidirectional beacons, but rotates at high speed so as to give substantially continuous indications. The rotating beam of this beacon is characterized by a null-and-maximum type of pattern essentially similar to an equi-signal patternv but produced by transmitting two kinds of pulses in immediate succession, one kind of pulse being transmitted with a pattern which has a null along the axis of desired reception while the other pulse is transmitted according to a pattern which has a maximum along this axis. Thus, reception of the second type of signal without the first indicates that the airplane in question is aligned with the axis.

One can also transmit on one singleV airplane frequency (preferably higher than the ground frequency) a series of pulses generated on each airplane which will be used as follows:

1. To measure the terrain clearance by measuring the time between the transmission of these pulses and the reception of the Same pulses reected from the earth.

2. To determine the distance of the airplane from the center of the airport and/or from towers along the airway by measuring on each airplane the time interval between the transmitted pulses and the pulses retransmitted from a repeater at the airport or tower, as the case may be. This repeater will receive pulses at the airplane frequency, but will retransmit them at the ground frequency.

3. To show directly the position of the airplane with Arelation to a map of an airport and surrounding territory rby combining the distance indication and azimuth indication above mentioned in a suitable polar coordinate indicator. Such an arrangement provides an accurate control of the flight patterns between the radio ranges and the localizer paths, the desired flight patterns being merely printed on the map upon which the position of the airplane is projected.

4. The same method enables the airplane to determine its distance from the end of the runway on following the localizer, thus replacing the markers now used for this purpose.

5. An anti-collision function is obtained by using a second series of pulses at the same "airplane frequency together with a form of direction finder giving the approximate directions of any nearby airplanes. The latter transmission is modulated so as to indicate the altitude to nearby airplanes and likewise obtain the altitude indications of the nearby airplanes.

6. By means of a third series of pulses sent out at the same higher frequency from each airplane in reply to the signals from the rotary beacon, a quasi-radar service is provided on the ground which indicates the positions of all airplanes in respect to azimuth and distance more conveniently than is possible with ordinary radar equipment.

7. By modulating and keying this third series of pulses, the altitude and identity of each airplane is continuously indicated on the same screen used for the quasi-radar indications. This automatic reporting thus provides continuously the information which is now obtained at intervals by oral communications from the pilots. Since these indications of altitude and identity are directly shown on the quasi-radar screen, there is no diiculty in associating the altitudes and identities with the positions of the corresponding planes.

In accordance with the present invention, a radio system is provided in which all indications above listed may be given by means of a number of ground equipments employing only two major high frequencies, one for transmitting and one for receiving, and so synchronized that only one main UHF receiver, one auxiliary UHF receiver and one single UHF transmitter is required on the airplane.

The above and other objects and features of our invention and the manner of attaining them are more fully explained in the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view in perspective of three airports with associated airways;

Fig. 1A is an enlarged view of a part of the y airway;

Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating the general airport and radio range system;

Figs. 3 and 4 taken together show circuit diagrams of the aircraft equipment for producing various indications;

Figs. 5 and 6, taken together illustrate the transmitter installation at an airport, Fig. showing the rotary beacon and distance repeater circuits, andi Fig. `8 showing localiser and'glide path beacon arrangement:`

Flg.'lisaschematicdiagramofalocalr beacon; y

lFig. 8 is a diagram of the field patterns produced in the rotary beacon-of Fig. 5;

Fig. 9 is a wiring diagramof a pulse width selector circuit used inthe system: y

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of the quasiradar indicator at the airport;

Fig. 11 is a view of the sweeppattern of the oscilloscopes of Fig. 10;

Fig. 12'i`s a block diagram of the display and posting desk equipment'atfthe airport;

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram ofthe airways terminal equipment showing the quasi-radar equipment for indicating the location of air-VV craft along the airways;

Fig. 14 is a view in perspective of a three-diof one mensional display board representing an airport;

Fig. 15 is a view inperspective of one of the dis play units used in the display board;

Fig. 16. is a -view in -perspective `with parts broken away of a posting desk of the character used in the equipment of Figs. 16 and 17;

Fig. 17 is ya diagrammatic view of the airport as obtained in the viewing frame of a posting desk used inFlg. 16;

Fig. 18 is a diagrammatic view of an airway as obtained in the viewing frame of a posting desk used in Fig. 17;

Fig. 19 is a schematic circuit diagram of thecontrols lfor one of the `posting,desks and associated display board; and i Fig. 20 is a schematic diagram of the relay equipment used on the towers ofthe airways.

In Fig. 1 there is shown in schematic form the layout of a `typical airways system according to the principles of our invention providing communication and quasi-radar facilities between airports l, 2, 3 and between airports and planes t and 5 over intermediate `repeater or` relay towers 6 which maybe spaced along the airway, say, everytwenty miles, more or less. depending upon the terrain. Each airport is provided with a multichannel ultra high frequency transmitter adapted to send signals to other `airports and to planes in night by wayof the repeater towers B (see Figs. 1A and 20) w, which are equipped with highly directional antennas providing for radiation in speciiled directions such as east and west, as well as upwards or for general broadcasting in all directions, thus providing facilities for communication as well asrange signals.

t The planes, in order toproperly cooperate with thetralc control system areprovided with transmitting and receiving equipment adapted for -ultra high frequency signalling and adapted to indicate their identity and altitude as described in more detail hereinafter.` t

While the airport of Fig. 2 is shown to have only three runways it will be understood that our invention is not so limited for there may be a great many more runways arranged, for example, tangent to a common circular airport loading, unloading and taxiing zone.

Aircraft 2l, for example, is shown approaching the airport on range 24 provided by beacon l1. After passing beacon il, the aircraft will follow a path 25 to a point tangent to the imaginary circle indicated at 26. The craft will circle the airportmaintaining its distance on circle 26 by means of the self-distance repeater `signals until 10 instructions for will then follow path 2l provided by range beacon IIinto a landing at runway l. As shown. craft 23 is now approaching a landing on this runway. It will. be understood that generally only one of these three runways may be used at a time sinceV provided by beacon Il. Aircraft 22 is shown following a path 29 tothe range Il. An approach 'path 32 from radio range Il to outer circle 2l is also shown in' the drawing.

, It will be ,understood that, in addition to the radio signals from the radio equipment, the craft will be infomed of its attitude with respect to the horizontal by means of a known type of equipment providing artiiicial horizon indicators and of its compass direction by auxiliary compass `l`equipment arranged on the craft.

indications. Furthermore,

In "accordance with certain embodiments of our invention, the functions of these auxiliary equipments are combined with'the indications from the radio transmission apparatus on the craft to provide a combined signal indication.

Preferably, the radio beacon transmitters for providing the localizer, glide path, range and rotary beacon signals and, is desired, also the selfdistance indication signals are successively operated and operate on a common frequency so that a single receiver and indicating apparatus may be provided on the craft to receive all of thesel these signals are preferably repeated at relatively short intervals so that substantially continuous indications may beprovided on the aircraft. This will be brought out more clearly in the further specific description of the particular circuit embodiments in` accordance with our invention.

The functions which must be performed to provide for Self-location are the determination on the plane of its own distance from the center of the airport and the determination on the plane of its azimuth angle as seen from the center of the airport. Both these functions require cooperation 'between equipment on the ground and equipment in the airplane. The following explanation of the principles of operation of the self-location service will be made in conjunction with Fig. 3 Vrepresenting the self-position, beam reception and transmitter umts of the airplane equipment and Figs. 5'and 6 representing the airport equipment. Y

Turning to Fig. 5, basically 'Il is a rotary beacon for sending out signals enabling a plane to determine its azimuth, while 12 is a. self-distance repeater designed to receive certain types of pulses at a given frequency, F1 and to re-transmit them at a dierent frequency Fa for the purpose of enabling the plane to determine its distance from the center of the airport. In the airplane, Fig. 3, the unit 13 is primarily a receiver for receiving the azimuth signals from 'Il while 14 is essentially an electromechanical unit for converting the received azimuth signals into mechanical rotation ofoscilloscope sweep coil 6U.

The nature of these various equipmentsas well as their principles of operation can best be exv plained by tracing the progress of a set of azimuth signals through rotary beacon 1| and self-position reception unit i3 to indicator M, and by iandingarereceived. The craft 

